Advice for this weekend....


 
M

Matt Sanders

TVWBB Pro
I'll be cooking two butts this Saturday for a family reunion. I'm going to start pretty early in the morning and use well trimmed, smallish shoulders to ensure I've got plenty of time. I will also be using a Maverick meat thermometer for the first time.

Does it matter if I keep the probe in the top or bottom? Does one tend to cook faster than the other? Or should I just put it in the smaller (or larger) shoulder?
 
Don't have a Maverick but if you are not using water in the pan the bottom grate will be hotter so that one will cook faster. I'd rotate half way through the cook either way.
 
I will use water. I tried the clay saucer twice. Although cleanup was much easier, I think the added humidity of the water makes a difference.
 
I always put my largest butts on the bottom with the probe. The dome usually runs about 25 degrees hotter. I use the clay pot in the water pan. This way the ones on top are done sooner and you can take them off without disturbing the bottom rack or playing with the probes.
 
Two small-ish butts should fit on the top rack pretty easily (I've had three 7.5 pounders on one rack). I'd put 'em both up there. Put your therm in the smaller one. Once that hits 190, take the therm out and start testing for done with a fork. At this time, you can put the probe in the larger one and repeat the process.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks guys. Do you think I could get two 7 pounders on the same 18.5 rack?

I was also leaning towards putting the probe in the smaller one, which should be done sooner.
 
My logic is opposite of JimK. With the therm in the biggest roast I figure when that starts getting close to temp I start probing the smaller ones. This way I always know the temp of the largest to keep from over cooking. IMHO
 
You should be able to get both butts on the top rack of an 18" WSM. We cooked (2) 8.5 lb butts two weeks ago at a KCBS comp. Must have done ok with them...we took first place in pork.

You are looking at 8-9 hours of total cook time if the ambient temp is around 85-90°F and you maintain a 250°F smoker temp. We also wrap ours at 165°F
 
It does...

I wrapped them at 165F at about 5:15 am.

We went to get some biscuits the organizer was providing about 7:00 am. The temp was 189F. We came back about 35 minutes later and they were sitting at 198F.

I had put them on about midnight. The WSM was sitting about 180F with smoke pouring out of it... A few folks from another team came up and starting chatting with us. They left about 2:10 am and it was sitting at 245F. When I woke up at 5:00 am, it was sitting at 250F and did so the rest of the day until the charcoal burned down.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. I think I'll put them both up top, with the probe in the smaller. I'll be starting around 6:30 or 7 am for supper. If by 1 or 2pm it's still stuck around 170, I'll probably foil.
 
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